What, if anything is wrong with the following reasoning? All horses are the same color. The proof is by induction on the number of horses. The base of the induction is easy: If there is one horse, then it is trivially the same color as itself. Now suppose that there are n horses, numbered 1 through n. By the induction hypothesis, horses 1 through n−1 have the sam e color (let’s say black). In particular, horse 2 is black. Also by the induction hypothesis, horses 2 through n have the same color. Since horse 2 is black, this means that horses 2 through n m ust be black. Therefore, all of the horses have the same color.

Advanced Engineering Mathematics
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ISBN:9780470458365
Author:Erwin Kreyszig
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What, if anything is wrong with the following reasoning? All horses are the same color. The proof is by induction on the number of horses. The base of the induction is easy: If there is one horse, then it is trivially the same color as itself. Now suppose that there are n horses, numbered 1 through n. By the induction hypothesis, horses 1 through n−1 have the sam e color (let’s say black). In particular, horse 2 is black. Also by the induction hypothesis, horses 2 through n have the same color. Since horse 2 is black, this means that horses 2 through n m ust be black. Therefore, all of the horses have the same color.

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